"A few of us, will stand up and say — let's not move any more judges until we get a vote, for example, on tariffs"

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CORRECTION – US Senator from Arizona Jeff Flake speaks during a press conference alog with former Google president and current board member Eric Schmidt (out of frame) at the Melia Cohiba hotel in Havana, on June 4, 2018.
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WASHINGTON — Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., suggested that he may use his perch on the Senate Judiciary Committee to extract concessions from the White House, saying on ABC News’ “This Week” that he could team up with other pro-trade Republicans to delay judicial nominees.

“I do think that unless we can actually exercise something other than just approving the president’s executive calendar, his nominees, judges, that we have no reason to be there,” Flake said Sunday morning. “I think myself and a number of senators, at least a few of us, will stand up and say — let’s not move any more judges until we get a vote, for example, on tariffs.”

Flake, who has taken some heat for criticizing the president but largely voting for his legislative agenda, had made similar threats before. In April, he briefly appeared ready to sink the nomination of Jim Bridenstine to be NASA director, saying he had bought time for “some discussions” but not saying what they concerned. Last week, he suggested that critics of the White House’s policy toward Cuba, like him, could gum up the judicial nominations and get leverage.

To date, Flake has supported all of the White House’s key judicial nominees, but the threat of a rebellion on one of the issues that has most united conservatives behind the president drew friendly fire. In a Sunday tweet, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., mocked Flake’s “hissy fit” and said he looked forward to the end of his colleague’s term this year.

“Proving once again why he polls at 16% @jeffflake threatens to harm our judiciary and conservative nominations in a hissy fit against @realdonaldtrump. Flake’s term of incompetence cannot end soon enough,” Gosar wrote.